Cycling UK Forum

No-one ever mentions Lincolnshire! It's mostly flat but that doesn't make it uninteresting. The attractions are endless miles of quiet, safe lanes, great towns and villages, cheap accomodation, friendly people (but be wary in the Fens beyond Boston) endless sunshine and great beaches. Actually I made the last two up, but it is a wonderful location for beginners.

I think your last sentence says it all! Apart from build quality issues - which becaome important over time and in bad weather - these 'one piece' things are a real bxxxxer to fit safely and securely. Look for secondhand decent ones is my advice.

in pink?

Reohn, being a family forum I didn't want to add that specific fact, although there was a tendency to the right. And I always put my wallet in the right hand pocket of my jersey and my phone in the right hand compartment of the bar bag...... It gets worse doesn't it?? Surprised I'm not tacking like a yacht.

maybe a penny farthing resurgence is what's needed.....

Some time ago there was a thread about people riding assymetrically with a single pannier and how bad it looks. This has worried me since then......but riding home yesterday I realised that bikes are naturally assymetric with chainsets, chains and changers all hanging off the right hand side. So there I am with a pannier (on the right), a mirror (on the right), and all my transmission bits (on the right). The answer to this challenging problem is surely to task Shimano with moving chainsets et al onto the left side? Otherwise I'd have to buy a new pannier.

And this is why I'm confused!! The rear works fine....but I can't get the front set up at all which is why I asked the question. I do have a road chainset (Ultegra triple) but I wanted the lower 'granny' gears that the MTB chainset offers. I guess I could go the old-fashioned way and fit an non-indexed lever to the down tube for the front changer if it ain't going to work??

Advice please and sorry to have to ask given the amount written on this but I do get easily confused........I want to use a setup as follows on a drop bar tourer: 7-speed Sora triple STI changers, Deore triple 42-32-22 chainset, 7-speed 11-34 cassette, Deore LX long arm rear mech. For front mech I have a choice of Ultegra or Deore LX....which one will work?
Neil

Thanks to you all for these informed replies. I'm going to stick with my original plan and just drive the IQ Fly from the hub. Seems like it will prob be ok.

Thanks for this....I was trying to avoid the wiring to the rear lamp - it looks messy and modern battery LEDs are perfectly OK. My commute is 15 miles each way although not sure I describe my speed as 'fast'!! I guess you can buy spare LEDs for the Fly??

There must be an expert out there somewhere!! I just bought a Schmidt Hub and a Lumotec IQ Fly LED front light hoping to make my winter commute a happy and safe one. But I'm confused....the instructions for both hub and light are a little unclear. On the front of the lamp is stamped 6v 2.4W but the source is an LED not a halogen. Will the lamp be damaged by the 6v 3W output of the hub and do I need to worry about over-voltage because I wasn't planning to fit a dynamo back light?
Thx
Neil

I just wanted to comment on the criticism of Thorn quality and attitude to restore balance to the question of which bike. Assuming that the comments re Thorn above are fair - and I'm not suggesting otherwise - it seems contrary to my experience. I have two of their bikes (one a Nomad) and am really pleased with them. They do exactly what they claim to do without fuss or drama and every time I've contacted Thorn they are helpful. I have no knowledge of Roberts products so would not claim to suggest one is better than the other, but I'm pretty sure that Thorns didn't build a succesful brand by sending out poor quality products or advice. It may well be that somewhere out there is an unhappy Roberts customer so make the choice on the bike and its capabilities, not isolated criticism.
N

For what it's worth.....I did a 14 day LEJOG in May and it was just right for me. My route was a scenic 960 miles but my conclusion is/was that some short days are a great opportunity to take a leisurely breakfast or lunch on the road rather than just pushing on all the time. They allow you to be more relaxed about bad weather and you can also have time to find the odd launderette. Whichever you decide...enjoy.

Thanks for all the thoughtful replies. I decided to bin the idea because the hassle seems to outweigh the benefits on an existing frame built for derailleur gears. That doesn't mean I've abandoned the concept but will wait to see state-of-the-art when it comes to buy a new frame. By which time Rohloff will be selling at £37.50 each......
N

Thanks Chris....I guessed that might be the answer.